Toto, We Are Not in Kansas Anymore

View of Volcan Concepcion at sunset. Taken at Totoco Ecolodge in Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua.

Nicaragua was epically beautiful. Considering this, it fazes me why people even bother to visit Little U.S.A….er, I mean, Costa Rica, which is overpriced and stuffed like a turkey with tourists.

One particularly epic spot in Nica is Ometepe, an island made of two volcanoes in the middle of a lake so big it appears as a beach. Nicaragua wasn’t all peaches and cream though; I was robbed twice, and one of the incidents was by knife point. But one has to remember this could have happened anywhere, and frankly it just comes down to the fact that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean, after a year in Latin America, it was bound to happen at some point or another.

As for returning to the U.S., California was a nice spot to fly into. It made the transition easier seeing as the hippie community of Esalen (located in Big Sur) wasn’t really like being back in the U.S. at all. But as soon as I bought my “economical” salad at the airport during my layover, and the price rang up at thirteen dollars, I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

And now, back in Texas. Where McDonald’s is now accepting food stamps, there are fat people everywhere, and people still deny evolution, insisting that we sprouted from two mythical creatures wearing leaves.

Hello Culture Shock. Nice to see you again, you haven’t changed a bit.